Hey all! This week I’ve asked my friend Larena to talk about something she’s awesome at: teaching songs in different languages. I hope you get as much out of this post as I did!
Hi, my name is Larena Code Boyle; I teach elementary music in Chicago, IL. I’m lucky enough to have both my Kodály and Orff certifications and spend my summers presenting professional development to music educators across the country. I’ve found that many of us want to include songs from multiple cultures but are often stopped by the language barrier and our own lack of confidence. However, teaching songs in different languages celebrates the many ways music is created around the world. It can also help our students feel seen. I experienced this first hand while attending Kindergarten in Norway. As an American, it was through learning the Norwegian songs that I found belonging and meaning in this new culture and language. Below are considerations and strategies I now use to teach songs that are not in my native language (English) in a child-centered, joyful, and musical way.
Considerations
When teaching a song from a culture you might be unfamiliar with, consider the following best practices:
1. Consider your motivation behind choosing a song.
Does it highlight a cultural celebration or holiday? That’s a place to start! Next, try adding a song from that same culture during a different point in the school year so students experience this musical culture as cohesive with (rather than “extra”) your curricular goals. As Dr. Debbie Reese (2025) said, “selection is choosing and not choosing.” When finding songs, I use song resources that are created or co-created by a culture bearer. Not sure? Check the co-author, liner notes, past work, linked resources, works cited, acknowledgments, translations, credits, video descriptions, or specificity of origin.
2. Present multiple windows into the song’s culture.
Take a moment by yourself to learn the cultural context. After that, decide how you will share this in a developmentally-appropriate way with your students. When Dr. Kay Piña (2022) introduces a new song’s culture, she shares a visual for each sense. For example, what you might see, taste, hear, smell, or touch if you visited that country. You do not have to share everything you learn and you do not have to share it all in the same lesson! At the minimum, I begin by giving credit to the origin and teaching the song in its original language. When cultural information is shared with your usual lesson pacing and style, it conveys that these songs belong in the music room too.
3. Use recordings of culture bearers.
Be transparent with your students if the song is not from your culture. We are not experts in everything and that is empowering for our students to see modeled! This can also create a space for representation by using recordings of culture bearers in class. Put simply by Dr. Reese (Nambé Owingeh), “the best people to tell a story with care, are those to whom that story belongs.” Additionally, singing along to a culture bearer’s recording (video or audio) will help you and your students learn the song and correct pronunciation with confidence.
Pedagogical Strategies
In Kodály-inspired teaching there is a pedagogical saying, “connect known to unknown.” In other words, make your new information accessible by connecting it to something with which the students are already familiar. When a song is not in English, it can often feel like a complete unknown! However, there are many characteristics we can pull out of that song that make it more familiar to us and to our students.
1. Movement
Nonverbal communication is a tried-and-true way to convey information. To help with translation, I choose movements to represent the lyrics in a song. For example, on Mariposa (Spanish) we make butterfly wings or on Simama Kaa (Swahili), we stand up and sit down. This will help students remember the words and their meaning. Extra bonus if the song comes with a game, like the Czechian song Čižečku. There’s nothing better than learning a song by playing in the music room!
2. Storytelling
We all love a good book! Studies show children need to hear a song five times before they can sing it, and even more if it’s not in their native language. Bearing this in mind, I will choose a book that is connected to a song (by culture or theme) as a way to sing through those first few listens. Taoto is a Tahitian lullaby. I sing Taoto every few pages during the book The Napping House, a familiar classic. This gets the song in my students’ ears and connects the concept of lullaby to something they know and love. Do the lyrics tell a story, like the Pakistani song Ache Kuwwa? If so, I will simply use visuals to depict the story as I sing. Students pick up on it quickly!
3. Repeated Words
Oftentimes when we hear a song in an unfamiliar language it can come across like a wash of sound. It can be daunting to think about learning “all those words.” However, by picking out repeated phrases, the language starts to reveal itself more slowly. In the Filipino folk song Sasara Ang Bulaklak, I ask my students to count how many times they hear bulaklak (meaning flower). That way, they are honing in on one aspect of the song. This scaffolded approach helps chunk the song into accessible parts. This also works for themes you might be focusing on in class. The American song Bought Me A Cat and the Israeli folk song Tarnegol are about farm animals. I ask my students to identify the animal sounds in both!
4. Recognizable Musical Patterns
In my Kodály-inspired music room, we use all songs (English or not) as a chance to practice our music literacy skills. By dissecting the rhythm of a song in another language, students again get a chance to connect it to their known curriculum. This also helps disrupt stereotypes that “non-English” songs are “extra fluff” or “museum pieces.” The Norwegian song, Mikkel Rev has a strong mi so do pattern repeated in the first phrase; a wonderful way to practice “do.” Another way to “chunk” a song with unknown words is to identify the form. Again, this helps to break down known patterns. The Kenyan song, Marobo, is a call and response song. Even in the first lesson, the teacher can sing the call and the students can sing the one-word response with joyful success!
Come see me this March!
If you want to see the above in action, I will be presenting a demo session with my 2nd graders at the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE) National Conference on March 7th in Chicago, IL. Come see my students demonstrate a class full of literacy-based activities, cross-cultural reflections, and play-based music making in songs of many languages. You can register at oake.org. If you cannot make it, I give workshops throughout the year on topics like today’s blog. I will also be presenting at Aileen Miracle’s conference February 15-17, 2025 here: https://aileensmusicroom.com/the-music-room-meet-up-lc/
You can see more of my work at larenacode.com. Please, reach out to me at [email protected]. Thank you Melissa for the opportunity to guest spot on your blog!
Meet Larena
Larena Code Boyle is an elementary music teacher at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and national recipient of the 2022 OAKE Outstanding Emerging Educator award. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Music Education and is certified in both Kodály and Orff-Schulwerk approaches. Larena frequently presents her work at the local and national level on topics such as inclusive repertoire, Kodály-inspired teaching, and culturally relevant curriculum. During the summer, she teaches post-graduate Kodály Certification Song Analysis and Pedagogy courses. Larena publishes articles and serves as an active member on various music education committees as an advocate for creating joyful spaces for all students.
Contact Links
larenacode.com
Email: [email protected]
Work Cited
Piña, K. (2022, March 4). Applying Dalcroze Eurhythmics to Global Music. Organization of American Kodály Educators National Conference. Pittsburgh, PA.
Reese. D. (2025, January 22). Tips for Teachers: Developing Instructional Materials about American Indians. University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Early Childhood DEI Workshop. Chicago, IL.
I enjoyed and appreciated Larena’s article so much! I would like to know where to find the songs that she used as examples. We have a large Kenyan population at my school and I’m sure they would love hearing songs in Swahili. Also the Tahitian lullaby paired with The Napping House is an activity I could really use with my littles. Thank you!
Hi Lydia, thank you for your comment I’m so glad you found it useful! I learned two songs you are asking about from Karen Howard’s book “First Steps in Global Music” – highly recommend. I hope it goes well with your littles!
First Steps in Global Music: https://amzn.to/4gxMv51